52 Opposing Tastes
by Liem
Summary: A collection of drabbles written for the 52 Flavours community on LJ. From Taang to Zutara to Kataang, because love is everywhere.
1. Once

**Title: **Once**  
Series: **Avatar: The Last Airbender**  
Theme no.: **1— _Kan__, ya ma _ _kan_**  
Character(s)/Pairing: **Aang/Toph**  
Rating: **G**  
Notes: **Character death.

Once, he saw a girl in a swamp. Once, he met her. Once, there was the girl—blind, fierce, tough, vulnerable. Beautiful. Once, he loved her.

Once, he cradled her broken body in his arms and cried over her. Once, he knelt before her grave. Once, a long time ago, her death tore him apart.

And now he moves on, reincarnated, memories wiped away. All he remembers, vaguely, is that once there was, and once there was not.


	2. Desire

**Title: **Desire**  
Series: **Avatar: The Last Airbender**  
Theme no.: **31—And it is only my longing/That saturates the color of apples/That turns a passing scent into form,/Like breaths sculpted in cold weather**  
Character(s)/Pairing: **Zuko/Katara**  
Rating: **G**  
Notes: **Spoilers for season two ending.

You begin to feel her everywhere. The palace at Ba Sing Se is of smooth stone, polished, not damp or cavernous; but you think you can hear her voice, feel her presence like you did in those caves. Sometimes you feel her hand on your cheek, a warm comfort that is quickly replaced by the sting of ice cold water.

Every time, you accept the silent blow, the unspoken accusation.

But you never go down to those caverns again except, maybe, in your sleep. When Azula asks you, all contemptuous knowing, why you always avoid that place, you answer her with a mutter about Iroh. She replies with two-edged talk of honor, return, Father; maybe she knows the truth, maybe she doesn't.

And the truth is that if you go down there you will see _her_: a passing breath, an abrupt clatter of stones, turned into actual flesh and blood.

You are going to return to the Fire Nation, a prince restored to his crown; you don't need anything to make you regret it.


	3. Isolation

**Title: **Isolation**  
Series: **Avatar: the Last Airbender**  
Theme no.: **2—let _x_ be the value of he who lies beside me**  
Character(s)/Pairing: **Zuko/Katara  
**Rating: **G**  
Notes (if any): **Vague spoilers for season two.

She didn't know who it was at first. The night was dark, the moon not out yet to illuminate the shadows.

Katara crouched in a defensive stance, making sure she was as close to the stream as possible. In the dark, she couldn't see much beyond dim shapes; and the only sounds she heard were the gentle gurgle of the flowing water next to her, and the _clack_ of stone on stone as somebody took a step towards her.

"Who are you?" she demanded. A tendril of water reared from the stream, thickened into a rope ready to yank out any attacker's feet from under him. "Who are you?" she repeated.

"You should warn the Avatar that Azula is on her way." The voice seemed to be coming from only a few feet away.

It was familiar. Low, raspy. Surprisingly gentle. "_Zuko_?" she gasped into the darkness.

They stood there, on the bank of the stream, only a few feet apart. The night concealed them from each other, and, Katara thought, from everything else. For a moment, she wondered what it would be like if they really could be isolated from the world, with nothing except the memory of a shared sorrow and those few, brief moments of trust—_closeness_.

Then Zuko broke through her thoughts, voice more urgent. "Tell him," he almost pleaded. "Tell him. Azula's coming." And he turned and sped away. Katara let him go—there was no other choice.

When she came back to warn the others, she attributed her knowledge to a chance reconnaissance.


	4. Anxiety

**Title: **Anxiety**  
Series: **Avatar: the Last Airbender**  
Theme no.: **47—Bitterness doesn't stand a chance with these two**  
Character(s)/Pairing: **Aang/Toph**  
Rating: **PG**  
Notes: **Spoilers for the second season.

"Hey. Twinkletoes."

"Yeah?"

"Quit worrying so much. It's making _me_ nervous."

"I can't help it. I'm just really, really, really—"

"Have you been drinking that weird tea again?"

"No. Maybe I should."

"Don't. My ears couldn't take the strain."

"Well, maybe you should drink it then."

"I want to relax, not get hyper."

"Would it help you relax if I told you that you look beautiful?"

"It would relax me more if I understood the concept of beautiful."

"You. You're the embodiment of beauty."

"You've been reading Sokka's love poems again, haven't you?"

"Sokka's been writing love poems to you?!"

"No. Geez, Twinkletoes. Calm down."

"Excuse me if I worry about Sokka writing love poems to my wife."

"Wife-to-be. And only if you leave, right now. You're not supposed to see me yet."

"If you hadn't wanted me to sneak in—"

"I did, but if Zuko finds out, he's not going to be happy. You know how traditional he is."

"Has Zuko—"

"_No_. Katara, remember?"

"Right, right. Well…you look beautiful."

"I just feel relieved that Katara managed to convince Zuko to let me wear green instead of red."

"I'm glad he didn't win out. This green really suits you."

"Try to pretend to be stunned by my beauty when you see me at the ceremony."

"Oh, I always am. Every time."


	5. Ephemeral Strength

**Title: **Ephemeral Strength**  
Series: **Avatar: the Last Airbender**  
Theme no.: **26—the strong and ephemeral**  
Character(s)/Pairing: **Aang/Toph**  
Rating: **G**  
Notes: **Spoilers for season two.

Aang never doubted that Toph was strong. Hadn't she proven it over and over? Beating her way to the top of Earth Rumble, defying her father, rescuing herself from Xin Fu and Master Yu. She was tough. She was capable. She was Toph Bei Fong, blind Earthbending master, Champion of Earth Rumble.

But she was also the girl in the swamp, the vision of fluttering white cloth that Aang saw. The vision in a swamp that showed to people the ones they have loved—the ones they have lost. The ones there, and then gone.

Aang constantly had to remind himself of Toph's strength. Not because he ever doubted it, but because if he didn't, he would be forced to face how ephemeral, how fleeting it was destined to be.


	6. Certainty

**Title: **Certainty  
**Series: **Avatar: the Last Airbender  
**Theme no.: **37—Like two swimmers who love the water, their souls knit/together without being sewn, no seam  
**Characters/Pairing: **Aang/Katara  
**Rating: **G  
**Notes: **No spoilers.

He has known, from the beginning, that they were meant to be together. From the moment he woke up and saw her face peering anxiously into his, beautiful in its warmth and caring. From the moment he saw those blue eyes, clear as glass and deeper than the ocean. He has known, right from the start. And even through separation and pain and everything in between, he has been sure.

But he is never more certain than when they are practicing their Waterbending together, because that is when he feels _it_—the connection between them. He can feel it in the way they move, in the rhythm of the water. It flows back and forth, for all its gentleness unstoppable. They love the water; they love each other. In this world, torn by war and full of shifting forces, it is his one certainty.


	7. Reach

**Title: **Reach**  
Series: **Avatar: the Last Airbender**  
Theme no.: **10—You close your mind/To their gentle questions/What do these people know about love?**  
Character(s)/Pairing: **Zuko/Katara**  
Rating: **PG**  
Notes: **Spoilers for the second season finale.

It started in the caves below Ba Sing Se. When he told you about his mother, and you began to see past the scar; past the face of the enemy. When you saw deeper than you wanted to, and, against what you were supposed to be fighting for, you reached out.

And now, in that in-between of sleep and wakefulness, your defenses slip; you remember the rough ridges and bumps of his scar, his blemish. You marvel again at the contrast between the ravaged cheek and the smoothness of the skin beneath his chin. Your mind lingers over the memory, making it almost real. It feels like it is happening all over again, your hand against his scar. But then, of course, there always comes the part where you jerk away, the part where his warmth leaves you.

And you wake up.

Toph always looks at you strangely when you do. But she doesn't know. You don't tell her.


	8. Rhythm, Flow, Fire

**Title: **Rhythm, Flow, Fire**  
Series: **Avatar: the Last Airbender**  
Theme no.: **33—This is how your desire/tangles with a desired one**  
Character(s)/Pairing: **Zuko/Katara**  
Rating: **G**  
Notes: **Spoilers for season two.

It is almost summer. Summer means heat, waiting. Summer means Sozen's comet. Summer means war. Katara practices her Waterbending: with Aang, without Aang, whenever, wherever, all the time—she is getting ready.

In, out, up, down. Breathe. Push, pull. Concentrate. Flow, rhythm, smoothness. Focus. Waterbending calms her, with its soothing movements, so she does not have to think about what is imminent.

But water cannot wash away all stains, and there are days when she cannot avoid the thoughts, like now, when they are all in camp together. Sokka is twirling his boomerang, showing off for Suki. Aang is similarly engaged, but his attention is on Toph, who so far is thoroughly unimpressed. Iroh sits to the side, drinking tea and chortling as Aang finally comes up with an idea: he shapes a lily out of rock, delicate petals of stone, and Toph accepts the gift with a small smile. Everybody is happy, so much so, and that is why Katara cannot help but ask herself: How long will this last?

She retreats to the river for coolness, for distraction. Breathe in, breathe out, push the water, pull it, maybe Aang will die. She shakes her head, focus shattered. And that is when the water shifts, shimmers, captures the red of the setting sun. A scar, a prince, a boy. She stops, and lets the water calm. The image wavers, then dies out and disappears. A deep breath in, and she tries to start again, but as soon as she moves, Zuko's reflection ripples into view. "I'm sorry," he seems to say.

"Sorry means nothing," she whispers, to herself, to him.

"I'm sorry."

"No!" She lashes the water into a frenzy, until Zuko's face washes apart. Several droplets splatter across her cheek. They sting, almost hot. Water, fire, opposites. When the surface becomes calm again, he is gone, and this is what she needs (doesn't want).

The next day, they march on Ozai's palace.


	9. Ocean to Sky

**Title: **Ocean to Sky**  
Series: **Avatar: the Last Airbender**  
Theme no.: **52—speechless with the memory of a drowned moon**  
Character(s)/Pairing: **Aang/Katara**  
Rating: **PG**  
Notes: **Spoilers for the second season finale.

He remembers running from the temple. He remembers flying, free, released from duty. He remembers the guilt that dogged him, no matter how high he soared. He remembers the storm: dark, looming clouds, rain shattering against him, and then—and then the ocean rearing up, no separation between water and sky, to swallow him.

When he thinks of Katara, he thinks "ocean." Not raging, wild ocean, but calm, expansive ocean—ocean of depth, ocean of warmth, ocean in her eyes. He thinks of ocean stretching out before him, endless until horizon and waves merge, meld, no more separation—only a unity he treasures, because, after all, she is a daughter of the sea, and he a child conceived of sky. Sky, high and endless above the sea, until they meet and mingle in a single, thin line.

In the caves of Ba Sing Se, they fight: girl of the ocean, boy from the sky, together. But he soon realizes the importance of Guru Patik's words; that to save Katara (the world) he needs to let go of this unity, this love. So he closes his eyes, chants a small prayer, and grasps Katara's image one more time before he lets it flow away, only to flash back into his mind as Azula's lightning jolts his body.

He remembers falling. He remembers failing. He remembers fear plummeting, pursuing him to the ground (_Katara_). He remembers the roar of water: it rumbles toward him, deep and steady. The wave towers high, no separation anymore between water and sky. (Daughter of the ocean, hair streaming behind her, nothing else, the water swallows him.)  
It comes full circle, and when he wakes again it is her face he sees, and he smiles.


	10. Red Sunshine

**Title: **Red Sunshine  
**Fandom: **Avatar: the Last Airbender  
**Pairing: **Toph/Aang  
**Summary: **We hold up the flower to the sky, looking at it until the crimson bleeds into the sun-streaked blue. "Even if I forget your face I'll always know _you_."  
**Rating: **G

We are one. Earth and sky are opposites, but it is true: we are one. After all, earth and sky hold each other together, one at each end; are eternal together, always constant and continuous

We met many times, in many different circumstances. Our first meeting is unknown even to us, because the cycle is so eternal that the lifetimes are one circle, without beginning, without end. We simply existed, exist, will exist.

The best memory we have is of a field of fire lilies. One of us is a Firebender, and the other an Earthbender. One of us is always an Earthbender; we know that much. The spring air is cool on our skins, and we look to the blue sky.

"I'll be an Airbender next," we tell each other. "I'll take you flying."

"Don't talk about _next_. Let's focus on the now."

"Why," a half-tease, "because in the next life you won't know me anymore?"

Laughter ripples. "No, stupid. Because next is next and now is now." A scarlet fire lily is plucked from the ground. "So here's the now, and don't look too far ahead." We hold up the flower to the sky, looking at it until the crimson bleeds into the sun-streaked blue. "Besides, even if I forget your face I'll always know _you_."

So here we are again, in the well-ordered greenness of a mansion garden. One of us is an Airbender, and one of us is an Earthbender. We look at each other and we offer a chance to fly and travel the world. Both of us remember a blurred streak of red and sunshine. We cannot, for this moment, know who we are. But this thought echoes with us:

We are one.


	11. 1000 Words

**Title: **1000 Words

**Fandom: **Avatar: the Last Airbender

**Pairing: **Toph/Aang

**Summary: **The fact that he was dying hit him, but still he promised her something.

**Theme: **PG-13

**Theme from **52 Flavours#8—But could we be together/outside of time as well as inside?

The fact that he was dying sank in slowly and dimly. Here was his blood, sticky ad vibrant with the life it was draining from him. Here was his hand, clutching at the wound that gashed his side open. Here was his breath, fluttering weakly and feebly. And here was Toph, who lay by his side with weaker breath still. Her hair was matted with blood and sweat, her clothes stained dark and charred. And even though breathing was painful enough, she whispered a name:

"Aang."

He smiled. "That's the first time you've called me by my real name."

"Don't get used to it. I'm just…too tired to use your nickname."

A chuckle. "Okay."

"Aang."

"Yes?"

"Promise me something."

"Okay…" His vision was dimming, his senses receding. But he clung to the voice beside him. "Promise…that you'll look for me. In the next life."

"Of course."

"I'll look for you, too."

"We'll look for each other until we're together again."

"Good…"

These were the final moments. "Toph."

"Yeah?"

"Can you...say my name again? One more time…"

"Aang…"

He seemed to ebb away, and as the black wrapped him up he struggled to memorize the voice that said his name:

It would call to him again, through the ages.


End file.
